Women’s Daily Dispatch: The news you need to know on 22/5/18

As part of our Visible Women initiative, stylist.co.uk brings you the Women’s Daily Dispatch: your daily digest of international news relating to women. It’s the good, bad, inspiring and urgent stories you need to know from around the world, all wrapped up in one bitesize piece.

In tonight’s Dispatch: China moves to end child restrictions and Welsh politicians pledge to focus on feminism.

Plus: the woman who could become the first black female governor in the US, and a campaign to get more people to pay attention to women’s sports.

China plans to scrap all restrictions on how many children you can have

A two-child policy was already introduced in China in 2015

The Chinese government intends to end all limits on how many children a family can have, according to a new report.

China’s cabinet has commissioned research on what could happen if the country scrapped its birth restrictions. Government sources told Bloomberg that the government intends to implement a policy of “independent fertility” across the country, allowing people to decide for themselves how many children they wanted to have.

The one-child policy, which was originally introduced to help slow population growth, has had a dramatic effect on gender demographics in China. Sex-selective abortions, made possible by ultrasound scans, have contributed to 130 boys being born for every 100 girls in some provinces.

China already implemented a two-child rule in October 2015, and some critics say that the “independent fertility” policy will not be enough to solve China’s problems.

Wales wants to become a more feminist country

The Welsh government has commissioned research to see how it can become a “feminist government”.

Carwyn Jones, the First Minister for Wales, said on BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour that men needed to have a greater understanding of feminism if gender inequality was to be tackled.

In an apparent nod to the statement made by Meghan Markle in her official royal biography, Jones said: “The very fact that a woman says ‘I’m proud to be a woman and a feminist’, the very fact that’s seen as radical rather than normal - which it should be - shows how far we’ve got to go.

“We’ve said we want to be a truly feminist government - we now have to live up to that.”

Jones, who plans to step down from his position in December, said that a “rapid review” into Welsh government policies was being carried out, and would report back in the summer.

This woman hopes to be the first black female governor in the US

Georgia governor hopeful Stacey Abrams

Shamefully, a black woman has never been elected to the position of governor in the US. But Stacey Abrams, a former lawyer and Democratic state House politician from Georgia, hopes to change that at the American mid-term elections later this year.

Abrams is currently campaigning in the run-up to the Georgia primary elections, the results of which will determine whether she is able to stand in the mid-terms in November. She has already received the backing of Hillary Clinton, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and California Senator Kamala Harris.

“A Yale-educated attorney, Abrams is the only candidate with bold new plans to ensure Georgians have access to good jobs, quality public schools, affordable childcare and higher education,” said Clinton.

Abrams is vying against another woman, Stacey Evans, to be the Democratic candidate for Georgia. “I’m very aware that as an African-American woman, I will be doing something no one else has done,” Abrams said.

New campaign aims to inspire people to #ShowUp for women’s sports

England’s netball team celebrates after winning gold at the 2018 Commonwealth Games

The Women’s Sports Trust and Sky Sports have launched a campaign to encourage people of all genders to attend and watch women’s sports - and urged more women to join in.

The #ShowUp initiative aims to capitalise on the momentum created by the success of female athletes in the UK and the recent wins of national teams, such as England’s netball team’s victory at the Commonwealth Games.

Tamsin Greenaway, the head coach at Wasps Netball, says that #ShowUp is about “starting a shift in our culture by saying ‘go and watch your local team, follow them and support them’ and hopefully developing an environment in which people engage with women’s sport in a much deeper way”.

As part of the campaign, Sky is giving away 5,000 tickets to women’s sports events in 2018.

Stylist’s Visible Women campaign is dedicated to raising awareness of women who’ve made a difference, celebrating their success, and empowering future generations to follow their lead. See more from Visible Women here.

Images: Chen Lei / Unsplash / Getty Images

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Moya Crockett

Moya is Women’s Editor at stylist.co.uk. As well as writing about inspiring women and feminism, she also covers subjects including careers, politics and psychology. Carrying a bottle of hot sauce on her person at all times is one of the many traits she shares with both Beyoncé and Hillary Clinton.